The present invention is directed to an improved ballot or similar scannable response form, wherein the printed form may be printed in a single-color, dark ink, with defined areas in which users are to indicate their response(s), but which do not interfere with the scanning of the form. Scanners of the type in which the present application find a particular use are described, for example, in the following patents U.S. Pat. No. 4,217,487, issued Aug. 12, 1980 to Kjeer and U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,672, issued Jan. 27, 1998, to Grundy, Jr., the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. One such scanner is marketed by National Computer Systems, Inc. and Sequoia Pacific Voting Equipment, Inc. under the name of National Computer Systems/Teamwork Scanning System.
Additional teachings regarding optical scanning systems and scannable answer sheets or ballots may be found in a number of U.S. patents. U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,961 to Sokolski et al. discloses a test sheet having a control mark column and answer receiving spaces aligned with a corresponding answer control mark, and a sheet reading apparatus comprising a light source for illuminating both the control mark column and answer receiving spaces, and control channel sensors that are positioned over answer columns for detecting answer indicia.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,381 to Manfred et al. discloses a low visibility answer sheet having a plurality of uniquely identified groups of answer areas containing a plurality of five potential individual answer areas (response bubbles), aligned in columns identified with block letters.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,123 to McMillin et al. discloses an optical reading system for scanning and reading a student's test score sheet, comprising a light source and a line scan camera for scanning a marked sheet as it is moved past the camera.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,001,330 to Koch discloses an optically scanned answer sheet having a plurality of indicia receiving locations (response bubbles), and a fail-safe mark extending between and connecting two adjacent marks on the sheet. This patent further teaches apparatus requirements for reflective-read scanning of such sheets.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,003 to McMillin et al. discloses a scannable form having a pre-printed control mark column along an edge of the form comprising a plurality of scan control (timing) marks, and for at least one of such scan control marks, a response area having a plurality of response bubbles that are printed in rows. This patent further teaches the use of various control marks on such sheets by optical mark reading systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,118 to Chumley et al. discloses a scannable data card having rows of response bubbles that are specifically spaced and positioned relative to fixed reference points on the data card.
The disclosures of all of these United States patents are incorporated herein by reference.
As depicted in FIG. 1, it is well known to use optically scannable documents or sheets for the recordation of information, particularly including test results and other data. Similarly, as depicted in FIG. 2, scannable documents have been previously employed for use as ballots to a limited extent. However, as indicated in FIG. 2, the response bubbles 210 used in such sheets had to be printed in an alternative color such as red, or as discontinuous lines (i.e., dashed or dotted lines) in order to avoid the possibility of the response bubble itself being detected as a mark.
Also well known is the fact that the optical scanning equipment is specifically designed so as to be sensitive to one or more colors of marks, yet not able to read a particular color spectrum (e.g., red).
The following text within quotation marks is an excerpt from the manufacturer's documentation supplied with the OpScan Model 6 ballot scanning machine, manufactured by National Computer Systems, Inc. of Eden Prairie, Minn.
“Ink Read Head Features
The ink read head on the OpScan scanners allows the scanners to read blue and black ballpoint ink in addition to number 2 pencil marks. The ink read head is known as a “limited visible” read head because it does not read colors in the red color spectrum. Other colors may be detected by the ink read head, but it is only guaranteed to detect blue and black ink and number 2 pencil.
The ink of some pens bleeds through the paper and may cause scanning errors if the location of the bleedthrough corresponds to a live response on the reverse side of the form.
Marks made with some felt-tip pens containing water-based ink may read poorly if the response bubbles contain printing. This is due to the ink pen not adhering to the form where printing press ink is present.
In general, marks made with black or blue ballpoint pens allow accurate, troublefree processing through National Computer Systems ink read scanners. Lack of erasability must be understood from the outset.
Forms Requirements
To distinguish marked responses from the printing on the form, the following color restrictions apply to all forms used with the ink read head:                Forms must be printed on white reflective paper or white Trans-Optic® paper.        All response positions must be printed in the red color spectrum. This includes the response bubble outlined, any characters or text printed within the bubbles, and any shading within the bubbles.        Other than the black skunk marks, all text in the skunk mark row must be printed in the red color spectrum.        The bias bar must be printed in the same red spectrum color used to print the response positions.        
Red spectrum colors for Trans-Optic paper are:                Red 85        Orange 24        
Red spectrum colors for reflective paper are:                Red 85        Red 28        Orange 78        Orange 79        
The ink read head uses reflective read technology. Therefore there are no restrictions concerning the overlapping response positions on the front and back of the form.
Areas of the form not used for response positions, such as instructions or logos, may be printed using any color ink. The ink read head may read these areas as marks, but the host computer software will ignore them since they are outside the response position areas. Printing in non-red colors must be a minimum distance of 1/32″ from any response position.
Note: If you are using the Scan Tools® application program, be aware that all non-red printing within the valid X/Y response coordinates may appear as marked responses when creating your application definition.”
As will be appreciated from a review of the above excerpt, the National Computer Systems, Inc. OpScan scanners are able to read blue and black ink marks, yet are unable to read colors in the red color spectrum. While it is possible to produce scannable documents that include a combination of red response bubbles and black or blue printing of information or other indicia, such multi-color printing is both costly and objectionable from a balloting perspective. In fact, some states and local voting districts specifically prohibit the use of color on ballots, particularly where a color may have particular connotations relative to one political party.
In order to consider the production of a ballot that is suitable for scanning, it was necessary to design a ballot and associated response bubbles that would be printable in one ink color (e.g., black), yet where the response bubbles would not be detected as marks. Initially, ballots such as those depicted in FIG. 2 were developed, where the response bubbles were of the same size and shape as traditional OpScan forms (e.g. bubbles 110 of FIG. 1), but where the bubble was produced with a discontinuous line. Unfortunately, while such a bubble configuration was scannable without significant erroneous detection, it was also difficult for voters with vision impairments to view and correctly fill-in the response bubbles associated with the desired candidate or proposal.
In the process of developing an acceptable ballot that may be printed in a single-color ink, using a continuous response bubble that may be easily viewed by the range of voters, the present invention was developed. In particular, the present invention includes not only a ballot formed using continuous-line bubbles printed in black or other dark-colored ink, but also the process by which such ballots are created and used.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a method for producing a scannable answer sheet on a blank substrate using a single-color ink, comprising printing, on at least a portion of one side of the substrate, a plurality of response bubbles, wherein said bubbles are arranged in a predefined orientation and spacing relative to the substrate and wherein said bubbles are printed with a continuous line.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for recording a voter's ballot selection, comprising: creating a ballot by printing, on at least a portion of one side of a substrate, a plurality of indicia and associated response bubbles, wherein said indicia and bubbles are arranged in a predefined orientation and are spaced within a grid oriented relative to the substrate and where said plurality of indicia and associated response bubbles are printed in black ink and said response bubbles are printed with a continuous line to provide a complete, visible bubble to a voter; providing said ballot to a voter for casting of at least one vote by placing a mark within at least one of the response bubbles; retrieving a completed ballot after said voter has cast the at least one vote; and scanning said completed ballot, using an optical scanning device, to detect and record marks within the response bubbles as votes for candidates represented by the associated indicia.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for illuminating and reflecting the image of a scannable answer sheet comprising a plurality of response bubbles, arranged in a predefined orientation and spacing on the sheet where said bubbles are printed with a continuous line using a single-color ink, comprising the steps of directing a beam of light upon the surface of the sheet, moving the sheet such that the beam of light is scanned along the surface of the sheet, and reflecting at least a portion of the beam of light from the sheet to a photodetector disposed adjacent to the sheet.
The present invention will be described in connection with a preferred embodiment, however, it will be understood that there is no intent to limit the invention to the embodiment described. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.